Wind scoured the wastes, ravaging a highland of shattered boulders and the gray flesh of a primordial mountain. I shivered from the cold and the sense that something terrible was about to happen. I looked at Dreich, as he stood with his fangs over his lips and his eyes bloodshot.

"Isn't this the place?" Doctor Imbrium wore a snow mask over their eyes and a heavy coat. They were more vulnerable to the cold than the pack.

"It was a long time ago." Dreich seemed to be stalling, as though waiting for something.

"We cannot find the entrance without your help. The crypt is somewhere up here, but where?" Lieutenant Colonel Rose was looking around. It was impossible to sniff it out with the air moving so loudly around us.

"Here, but we are waiting for the right angle. Not every part of the world exists at the same time." Dreich puzzled over a stretch of barren rock.

I watched in fascination as I saw the rock shimmer weirdly, as though it was not really there. Then it was solid again. Dreich was concentrating on it, seemingly aware of its instability. I stared too, and as I did, the winds seemed to die down. The skies were not as dark and there was lichen growing all around that I had not noticed before.

"A journey made without moving." Dreich mused. "Let us enter."

We followed him into the darkness below, Doctor Imbrium hurrying to enter behind me, as I was the first to follow Dreich. When the pack was gathered below, we turned on our flashlights.

"I can see without those." Dreich told me. "You could too, if your eyes were the eyes of a wolf. The longer you spend time as a human, the duller your senses become."

"What are you saying?" Doctor Imbrium tried to get close to overhear Dreich.

"Wolves can see in the dark, when they are wolves. What are these lycans to you, Doctor?" Dreich seemed to be making some sort of admonishment or veiled accusation. I detected the condescension in his tone, beneath his accent.

"You are the one who insisted we bring the whole pack." Doctor Imbrium wasn't sure how to respond. "What is the problem?"

"One day they will bite the hand that keeps them." Dreich looked at Doctor Imbrium and had a predatory gaze. "They should know what their master does. Or shouldn't they?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Doctor Imbrium said with denial.

It was quiet in the crypt's entrance. All around us were the graves hollowed out from the rock, with bones stacked within. We were all listening as Dreich took the opportunity to express a deep distrust of Doctor Imbrium by saying:

"There is no reason to trust you. You keep secrets, Doctor. Among the pack, there are no secrets. Why is the witch and the one from the mountains not here? Are they not part of the pack?" Dreich was referring to McRaze and Frosty, who could easily determine someone's true intentions.

"I don't have to answer to you, monster. You serve a purpose, now show me where the key is." Doctor Imbrium demanded.

"You think the key is a piece of metal that fits into a lock, simply because it is called 'the key'. Shouldn't an agent of the Elders know more?" Dreich openly accused Doctor Imbrium.

"You are mistaken." Doctor Imbrium was not alarmed. In fact, they seemed to be relaxing under the scrutiny, as though they had a solid alibi and had waited for a chance to use it. "I am not an agent of the Elders. I know what you are talking about, but my loyalties are to our nation and to a good cause."

"We shall see." Dreich said after a brief moment of hesitation. He chose not to let Doctor Imbrium offer any proof. He simply ended the conversation, as though he were merely confirming for himself whose side Doctor Imbrium was on.

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"Who are the Elders?" Bruna asked.

"I'm glad you asked, Major. Doctor, would you care to explain to the pack who the Elders are?" Dreich had a cunning smile.

"They are a cabal of sorcerers. They have power and influence all around the world and they write history before it happens. Many things can be said about them, but the one thing I know is that they don't need help from me to acquire these artifacts we are after. We are racing ahead of them and safeguarding them." Doctor Imbrium spoke with a prescribed statement.

"Have any of you seen this before?" Dreich seemed to be ignoring Doctor Imbrium as he picked up a medallion held in the bony hands of a scorched skeleton. He showed it first to me.

"I saw that in the vault we raided." I recalled. "Another dead intruder held it."

"Yes. These are protective amulets. Agents of the Elders used to use these as they searched for the pieces of the device they are trying to make. The unnatural gems I am entrusted with compose a mere fraction of its power, and together they would be considered too dangerous to belong to anyone." Dreich dropped the medallion onto the burnt ribcage and collapsed it with a clatter.

"This is the final resting place of all my people, at least on my mother's side. Is it ironic that sunlight can enter this dark place, in a concentrated form, to protect a grave of vampires?" Dreich glanced at me, knowing I understood his words perfectly.

"Vampires?" Slate asked. The rest of the pack were murmuring and whispering amongst themselves, surprised.

"The Elders waste nothing. Look, this apprentice was granted immortality, the economy version, anyway." Dreich pulled the head from the corpse and showed us the jagged fangs of the skull.

"What is the point? Let us have the key and be away from this place." Doctor Imbrium seemed irritated.

"Why don't you lead the way, Doctor?" Dreich gestured where a tunnel led from the crypt, deeper into the mountain. Everyone gasped, for it was not there moments before.

"I don't think so. I don't trust you." Doctor Imbrium stated.

"Why not?" Dreich asked. "Atanarjuat, do you trust me?"

"I do."

"Atanarjuat shall go first, he trusts me." Dreich smiled queerly. It was his manner that made me smile too, his grin was contagious. All the pack found his antics amusing.

I led the way into the darkness below and as soon as I had stepped into it there was sunlight, brilliant and blinding. I saw the walls were made of crystal, and in the center of the chamber was a massive sphere of diamond. The light was dazzling, trapped and it reflected off of every surface. It was old sunlight, somehow it was magically trapped in there, and its warmth bathed me and cleansed me.

Sighs of delight and wonder came from each pack member as they entered behind me. I heard Bruna say:

"It's beautiful."

"It is the secret of my crypt. No human can enter the crypt, and no vampire may enter the vault. This is how I have secured the key. Now lycans, look around and solve the riddle. I trust at least one of you can match my brilliance."

I searched but the light hurt my eyes. The more I looked around, the less I saw. Finally, I had to close my eyes and as I did I could see through my eyelids, vague blurry lines of light. I opened my eyes and the lines were gone. I closed them again and wondered if the light was concealing something. I kept my eyes closed and followed the lines, slowly beginning to find they formed an endless knot.

Except the knot was not endless, for in its heart there was a break, and where either side was broken, a wafer of darkness presided, like a tiny emperor of eternal night.

I reached out and took it into my hand. I felt its coldness, and I knew it was the key. My hand was going numb holding it. "I've found it!"

We emerged from the crypt's secret vault and stood gathered again in the crypt. I looked where I held it, and saw it was encased in ice. Dreich held his hand under mine, requesting it with the gesture. I dropped it into his waiting hand, as the ice dripped and melted off of it.

"A flower?" Bruna stared at it.

"A blossom, yes." Dreich held it up, already it was beginning to wither.

"It's dying." Bruna said with a hint of sadness.

"But do you lycans take its scent?" Dreich smiled with great cunning. I wondered at the magnitude of the creature's plot. I breathed deeply and so did the rest of the pack.

"I will recognize it." Lieutenant Colonel Rose said with confidence.

"The key is a scent?" Doctor Imbrium glowered. Their eyes shone in the dark for an instant, just a flash of eyeshine, like that of a wolf, yet somehow Doctor Imbrium was not actually a lycan. I recalled the first time I had met them, I had caught the scent of a wolf, but also that Doctor Imbrium was human. What were they?

"There is just one tree in this world with that scent. Where it grows, you shall find the unnatural gems that you seek." Dreich reassured them. "Are you disappointed, Doctor?"

"This was a waste of time, you could have simply taken us directly to the tree. Why did we come here?" Doctor Imbrium was indignant.

"To learn, Doctor. Are you not someone who enjoys learning?" Dreich asked, easily getting into Doctor Imbrium's head.

"We learned nothing. This was a waste of time." Doctor Imbrium insisted.

"On the contrary. I believe we have all learned everything that we need to know - about you."